Lisandro Martinez spotted in 'fight' with opponent as Man Utd star avoids punishment

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp spotted Lisandro Martinez in a “fight” with Ismaila Sarr that went unpunished during Manchester United’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.

Red Devils goalkeeper Andre Onana made an incredible double save to deny Sarr and Eddie Nketiah, ensuring his side came away from Selhurst Park intact, but only after Martinez was tussling with the former.

As Palace broke away in the second half, former Arsenal striker Nketiah got a shot away from the edge of the box which Onana batted away, but only to Sarr with the goal at his mercy.

Onana somehow was able to get a hand on the Senegalese star’s effort, though he could have gotten to the ball sooner if not for Martinez’s intervention.

Redknapp noticed at full-time that “lucky” Martinez could have been punished by costing United the match by getting tangled up with and then left in the dust of Sarr, if not for the help of his goalkeeper.

“I tell you who is lucky here, Martinez,” Redknapp analysed. “For some reason he is trying to get in a bit of a fight there. Sarr comes in, he follows it in and Martinez gets caught the wrong side. He is the one hesitating, he gets lucky his keeper bails him out.

“You would look on the analysis and think he has got to do better on the rebound. His keeper has certainly bailed him out with that big right hand, it is a really good save.”

That was not Martinez’s only contentious moment of the match, having been booked for a two-footed challenge on Daichi Kamada when the Argentine came flying through the air.

Palace players protested for a red card and VAR was consulted on the matter, but the on-field decision remained and Martinez stayed on the pitch.

“I’d love to tell you [what is his thinking],” Redknapp added. “He goes into a position, he wants to go in with two feet. I don’t know – it is a tackle we saw many years ago. I don’t know what on earth you are thinking you are going to gain by jumping in with two feet.

“If he lands on Kamada’s foot he goes down and it is a straight red. The only thing why he doesn’t get a straight red is he somehow just misses his foot. It is a ridiculous challenge.”

The Premier League Match Centre social media account explained that a red card was not brandished because while the challenge was “reckless” it was not deemed dangerous and no contact was made.

“The referee issued a yellow card to Martinez for a challenge on Kamada,” the account wrote. “VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of no red card, deeming this was a reckless challenge and made no contact with Kamada.”